At 6'4" defenceman Jay McKee's strength is using his size to keep enemy forwards away from his goal while moving the puck up ice to his forwards. A native of Kingston, Ontario, McKee was a standout in the MTHL with the Mimico Monarchs in 1991-92. He then played Junior C with the Ernestown Jets before joining the OHL's Sudbury Wolves in 1993-94. McKee later joined the Niagara Falls Thunder and was chosen 14th overall by the Buffalo Sabres at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft with the selection they obtained from the Vancouver Canucks for Alexandre Mogilny.

After seeing some action with both the Sabres and their AHL affiliate in Rochester during the 1995-96 season. The rugged blueliner looked solid as a rookie in 1996-97 and continued his development the next season. In 1998-99, McKee recorded a +20 plus/minus rating and helped the Sabres reach the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in franchise history. During the next two seasons, he played a bit more on offense and became more of a team leader as the Sabres continued to be a regular participant in the post season.

After another solid season in 2001-02, McKee was plagued by injuries in 2002-03 and again in 2003-04. Following the lock out, McKee would return in 2005-06 and enjoy a rather healthy regular season. However, in the 2006 NHL playoffs an infection in McKee's leg kept the defenceman out of the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Following the Sabers elimination in the 2006 NHL playoffs, McKee would become a free agent and sign with the St. Louis Blues in the off-season.

McKee's three seasons in St. Louis were riddled with injury and he was eventually bought out of the last year of his contract by the Blues. The rugged blue liner wouldn't be unemployed for long however, he inked a deal with the Stanley Cup champion, Pittsburgh Penguins just days later.

REGULAR SEASON

PLAYOFFS

Season

Club

League

GP

G

A

TP

PIM

+/-

GP

G

A

TP

PIM

1992-93

Ernestown Jets

ON-Jr.C

36

0

17

17

37

1992-93

Kingston Voyageurs

ON-Jr.A

2

0

0

0

0

1993-94

Sudbury Wolves

OHL

51

0

1

1

51

3

0

0

0

0

1994-95

Sudbury Wolves

OHL

39

6

6

12

91

1994-95

Niagara Falls Thunder

OHL

26

3

13

16

60

6

2

3

5

10

1995-96

Niagara Falls Thunder

OHL

64

5

41

46

129

10

1

5

6

16

1995-96

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

1

0

1

1

2

+1

1995-96

Rochester Americans

AHL

4

0

1

1

15

1996-97

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

43

1

9

10

35

+3

3

0

0

0

0

1996-97

Rochester Americans

AHL

7

2

5

7

4

1997-98

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

56

1

13

14

42

-1

1

0

0

0

0

1997-98

Rochester Americans

AHL

13

1

7

8

11

+6

1998-99

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

72

0

6

6

75

+20

21

0

3

3

24

1999-00

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

78

5

12

17

50

+5

1

0

0

0

0

2000-01

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

74

1

10

11

76

+9

8

1

0

1

6

2001-02

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

81

2

11

13

43

+18

2002-03

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

59

0

5

5

49

-16

2003-04

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

43

2

3

5

41

+6

2004-05

2005-06

Buffalo Sabres

NHL

75

5

11

16

57

0

17

2

3

5

30

2006-07

St. Louis Blues

NHL

23

0

0

0

12

-9

2007-08

St. Louis Blues

NHL

66

2

7

9

42

+2

2008-09

St. Louis Blues

NHL

69

1

7

8

44

+11

4

0

0

0

4

2009-10

Pittsburgh Penguins

NHL

62

1

9

10

54

+6

5

0

0

0

2

2012-13

Dundas Real McCoys

OHA Sr.

4

0

1

1

2

10

0

7

7

5

2013-14

Dundas Real McCoys

OHA Sr.

8

1

4

5

0

3

1

1

2

2

2013-14

Dundas Real McCoys

Al-Cup

4

0

0

0

4

NHL Totals

802

21

104

125

622

60

3

6

9

66

OHL Second All-Star Team (1996)

Signed as a free agent by St. Louis, July 1, 2006. Missed majority of 2006-07 due to hand injury vs. Vancouver, October 20, 2006. Signed as a free agent by Pittsburgh, July 10, 2009.